Srihari Nataraj wins 100m backstroke 'B' final at French Elite Open Swimming Championships

New Delhi: Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj clocked 55.28s to win the men’s 100m backstroke ‘B’ final at the French Elite Open Swimming Championships in Limoges, France. Competing in his first international meet of the year, the 21-year-old first clocked 55.88 in the preliminary round of his pet event. He finished in the top 10 of the 46-swimmer field but couldn’t make the cut for the ‘A’ final. Nataraj then shaved 0.60s off his heats time to win the B final. The Bengaluru swimmer has a personal best of 53.77s in the event which he achieved last year in June. In the 100m freestyle event, Nataraj clocked 50.51 to finish 18 in the preliminaries. However, he did not qualify for the finals. Olympian Maana Patel finished 25th among 45 swimmers in the women’s 50m backstroke with a time of 30.17. She too failed to make the finals. The swimmer, who took part in the Tokyo Games, finished 18th among 50 entrants in the women’s 100m backstroke heats. She finished with a timing of 1:04:82. Ridhima wins gold at SA Nationals Junior swim sensation Ridhima Veerendra Kumar won gold in the girl’s under-14 100m backstroke event at the South Africa National Aquatic Championships. Ridhima, who had won nine golds and a silver and broke two national records at the Nationals last year, clocked 1.05.37 to stand on top of the podium in Port Elizabeth. The teenager is a part of the 16-member Indian junior team participating at the South Africa nationals. The junior squad also had undergone a training exposure camp with the South African junior swimmers in March. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.